1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic component and, more particularly, to an electronic component including a capacitor incorporated therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of a known electronic component is a multilayer capacitor disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-170873. The multilayer capacitor includes a capacitor body, a first external terminal electrode, a second external terminal electrode, and a capacitor. The capacitor body has a layered structure including a plurality of dielectric layers stacked on one another, and has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape including a first principal surface and a second principal surface that extend in a surface direction of the dielectric layers and that face each other, a first side surface and a second surface that face each other, and a first end surface and a second end surface that face each other. The dimensions of the first end surface and the second end surface in the longitudinal direction are greater than those of the first side surface and the second side surface, respectively, in the longitudinal direction. In addition, the first external terminal electrode is connected to the capacitor and provided on the first end surface. The second external terminal electrode is connected to the capacitor and provided on the second end surface.
According to the multilayer capacitor disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-170873, as described below, equivalent series inductance (ESL) is desirably less than a multilayer capacitor in which a first external terminal electrode and a second external terminal electrode are provided on a first side surface and a second side surface, respectively. The dimensions of the first end surface and the second end surface in the longitudinal direction are greater than those of the first side surface and the second side surface, respectively, in the longitudinal direction. Therefore, in the multilayer capacitor in which the first external terminal electrode and the second external terminal electrode are provided on the first side surface and the second side surface, respectively, a signal path runs through a space between the first side surface and the second side surface, whose length is relatively large and whose width is relatively small.
On the other hand, in the multilayer capacitor disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-170873, the first external terminal electrode and the second external terminal electrode are provided on the first end surface and the second end surface, respectively. Therefore, a signal path runs through a space between the first end surface and the second end surface, whose length is relatively small and whose width is relatively large. Therefore, the value of inductance generated in the signal path of the multilayer capacitor disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-170873 is less than the value of inductance generated in the signal path of the multilayer capacitor in which the first external terminal electrode and the second external terminal electrode are provided on the first side surface and the second side surface, respectively. That is, according to the multilayer capacitor disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-170873, the ESL is desirably less than the multilayer capacitor in which the first external terminal electrode and the second external terminal electrode are provided on the first side surface and the second side surface, respectively.
However, the multilayer capacitor disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-170873 has a problem in that it is difficult to install the multilayer capacitor in a circuit board. FIG. 13A is a sectional view of a multilayer capacitor 500 disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-170873 and a circuit board 600 when the multilayer capacitor 500 has been installed in the circuit board 600. FIG. 13B is a plan view of the multilayer capacitor 500 disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-170873 and the circuit board 600 when the multilayer capacitor 500 has been installed in the circuit board 600.
As illustrated in FIG. 13A, the multilayer capacitor 500 is installed in a recess 602 in the circuit board 600. A seal 604 is then formed on the multilayer capacitor 500. Wires 608a and 608b are provided on a principal surface of the circuit board 600. The wires 608a and 608b are connected to external terminal electrodes 504a and 504b, respectively, by via-hole conductors 606a and 606b, respectively. The multilayer capacitor 500 is installed in the circuit board 600 so as to have the above-described configuration.
The via-hole conductors 606a and 606b are formed by the following procedure. After the multilayer capacitor 500 is installed in the recess 602 and the seal 604 is formed, laser beams having a diameter of about 50 μm to about 100 μm are radiated onto certain portions in order to form via holes. After that, by filling the via holes with a conductive paste or by plating the via holes, the via-hole conductors 606a and 606b are formed.
However, as illustrated in FIG. 13B, the external terminal electrodes 504a and 504b are provided on the first end surface and the second end surface, respectively. Dimensions L2 of the first side surface and the second side surface in the longitudinal direction are less than dimensions L1 of the first end surface and the second end surface in the longitudinal direction. For this reason, as illustrated in FIG. 13B, widths W of portions in which the external terminal electrodes 504a and 504b extend on principal surfaces are small. Therefore, it is difficult to form the via-hole conductors 606a and 606b so as to connect to the external terminal electrodes 504a and 504b, respectively. In particular, since the seal 604 is provided, it is difficult to radiate laser beams onto the correct locations, thereby making it difficult to form the via-hole conductors 606a and 606b so as to connect to the external terminal electrodes 504a and 504b, respectively.